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Regime Terrified of MEK, Admits Friday Prayer Leader

Written by Hamideh Taati on 05 February 2019.

By Hamideh Taati

The Iranian Regime has long tried to paint the Iranian opposition movement, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), as some sort of fringe political group with little domestic support, so why are the mullahs suddenly being so upfront about their fears that the MEK will lead the people to overthrow the Regime?

Seyed Mohammad Saeedi, the Friday prayer leader for Qom, central Iran, recently made a trip to Mashhad, northeast Iran, to give a speech to the waiting crowd before the official Friday sermon began. In this speech, Saeedi acknowledged that the Regime was scared of the MEK and their support among the Iranian people, even noting that the Regime sees the MEK as an existential threat.

Saeedi said: “The state’s war against the MEK and the global front of our enemies is an existential battle. And they want to get rid of us.”

It is worth noting that the Friday prayer leaders act as mouthpieces for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, so these are not just the words of a low-ranking official or the speculations of a religious leader. These are the genuine fears of the Regime’s inner circle.

He then went on to admit that the MEK is popular among the Iranian people, even amongst the Regime’s core base of working-class religious people, and is able to spread their message of a free and democratic Iran through cyberspace and the MEK resistance units in every city in Iran.

Saeedi said: “This enemy has spread everywhere… What does it mean when I say our war against the enemy is over our very existence? It means that our enemies want to overthrow us. The nuclear, missiles, human rights, our substantial advances, the issue of our presence across the region and everything else are all pretexts.”

The activities in support of the opposition movement MEK has increased across the country in last few months. Many videos of such activities have been posted in social media.

Also in his speech, Saeedi tried to dissuade his fellow Regime officials from passing the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing bills required to remain a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – they’re currently suspended – because he sees it as an attempt by the enemy to “disarm” Iran in this “economic war”.